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EPC Tips - Downhill Interval Run

By
XTERRA

Oct. 1, 2015

Don’t forget the downhill intervals when prepping for a hilly race!

This is a great session to include in your build up towards a hilly race. The strength, stability, agility and body awareness are critical factors to being able to run fast downhill. Often the downhill segments come late in the race when you’re fatigued, and it’s easy to give up time on the descents if you’re not used to letting it go when the run heads down the mountain.

This is a favorite session of mine to build the strength and confidence to be able to run downhill fast. I use this session with our XTERRA athletes prepping for the hilly courses at Beaver Creek, Ogden, and Maui. The session includes uphill intervals to build the “push-off strength” (concentric) required for going uphill, along with downhill intervals to build the “landing strength” (eccentric) as you ‘catch’ yourself with every step as you control your ‘fall’ down the hillside. Be sure to ease into these sessions as they can leave you surprisingly sore the next day as the extra pounding and quadricep strength required on the downhill is not something most runners train at speed very often. The grade of the hill should be moderate to steep, with decent footing, so you can safely run fast downhill. Too steep or too rocky/rooty and you can’t run down fast enough for the intended training effect.

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